The week of October 9 was: our favorite space age Mash-Up geniuses reading to each other; drafting Fred Armisen to the Korean delegation with this bananas episode of Finding Your Roots; how we understand why it’s hard for a victim to speak up; and readying our emergency bags.

Apple’s First VP Of Diversity Says She Focuses On Everyone, Not Just Minorities

Denise Young Smith, a Black woman who has been at Apple for 20 years, is now leading a team aimed at making and keeping the company as diverse and inclusive as possible. On one hand, it’s about time! On the other hand, some have called out her broad definition of “diversity.” Can a room of “white, blue-eyed blond men” be “diverse”? Sure, but that’s not really the point. When all voices are brought into the room, everyone wins, but certain voices have a continued history of being locked out. That all being said, we’re cheering for her to make good things happen.

via Quartz

The Kosher Salt Question: What Box Does What? There’s a Difference

Kosher salt entered the salt markets in the late 1800’s to target the Jewish community, and since then it’s become a staple in American cookbooks and kitchens. But if you expected all kosher salt brands to taste the same, then you might be in for a salty surprise the next time you follow a recipe with the fickle ingredient.

via Taste

Genes for Skin Color Rebut Dated Notions of Race, Researchers Say

Race has almost no biological backing? Race is a social construct? Pigment changing genes are found and shared all over the world, and this widespread distribution shows that “color lines” are essentially meaningless. Humans develop color the same way other mammals do, but you aren’t seeing very much color discrimination among them.

via NY Times

Why Armenians Love Strangers

Ben Lerwill turned up unannounced and uninvited to an Armenian household and was met with a night of BBQ pork, homemade fruit vodka, jovial uncles, bear hugs and lots and lots of toasts. Throughout history, Armenians have seen Silk Road travellers and experienced horrific genocide, which together have bred the attitude that those who come in peace should be welcomed with open arms.

via BBC

Here’s How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream

Buzzfeed News has gotten their hands on new emails and documents from inside Breitbart, which show that the site’s inner workings are (somehow) even more hate-filled, manipulative, and toxic than we already expected. It’s a detailed look at how Breitbart staff and “not racist” Yiannopoulos paved the way for America’s most toxic political subcultures and beliefs to enter the American mainstream.

via Buzzfeed

Why Stanford Researchers Tried to Create a ‘Gaydar’ Machine

It all sounds like a bad dystopian young adult novel, except someone actually tried to do it! What can this project (and our reactions to it) tell us about personal privacy, stereotyping by algorithms, appearance and sexuality, and flawed experimental designs?

via NY Times

‘Swedish Death Cleaning’ is The New Decluttering Trend

The new Kondo is here and instead of being about sparking joy, it’s driven by acknowledging that you’re going to die and that maybe you won’t need that random thing you bought in the afterlife.

via Treehugger

The Way Strangers Meet Online Is Changing Society In Unexpected Ways

More than one-third of marriages start online, and this shift has led to more interracial relationships and opportunities for same-sex relationships! Basically, we all used to marry people we were somehow connected to and throughout literally all of human history we could use that as a way of understanding how our society worked  (who was where, why, etc) and now, um, we marry people who were previously strangers. Online dating has changed everything says science!

via MIT Technology Review

Letters to Immigrant Parents on National Coming Out Day

When Patrick Lee came out to his parents, he wrote a letter in English which friends helped translate into Korean, so that his parents could read it and begin to understand who he was. For many kids of immigrant parents, culture and language are more barriers to fight through when coming out. In his short film, Lee gives other LGBTQ Asian Americans the chance to write their own letters.

via Angry Asian Man